USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 86
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"Gentlemen: The degree of doctor of medicine, when properly obtained, is an hon- orable title. It is the legal and professional authority that admits its possessor into the ranks of the medical profession, and guaran- tees to him the right to practice. It also grants the privileges, immunities and honors of the profession. In addition to these honors, immunities and privileges, it brings also obligations of the most sacred and re- sponsible kind.
"As members of the profession you are about to enter, you become the guard- ians of public health, and largely of indi- vidual happiness. Yon are to be the pro- tectors and preservers of human life. As physicians and surgeons your decisions must necessarily often be final, a court from which there is no appeal-be the result for weal or for woe. Your duty will be to advise and protect alike the high and the low, the rich and the poor. Your authority, if judicionsly directed, will be respected by all alike. In matters pertaining exclusively to your pro- fession conrts will be governed by your opinions, armies guided by your direction, and nations will submissively bow to the mandates of your authority. In private life individuals will rest their all, even life, with your judgment and practice. The weapons you will wield are potent for good or for evil, and upon your ability and judgment in selecting and applying, the success of your practice will depend.
"The object of your student life has been to bring about these necessary qualifications. You have gone through a full course in the several branches and passed examination satisfactory to your instructors, entitling you by right to the diploma of the Omaha Medical College, and as the chief officer of this institution, the faculty directs me, in the name of the people of the State of Ne- braska, from whom this college legally received its authority, to deliver to you this diploma, thus conferring upon you the degree of doctor of medicine.
" This means not only that you are quali- fied to commence the practice of med- icine, but that your character and de- portment, as men is such as warrants this faculty in appointing you as custodians of these important principles.
"If you would increase your knowledge, continue to be students, not as mere book- worms only, but observers of principles and facts, and reasoners from cause and effect. If you would preserve that precious jewel, · self-respect,' remain worthy men, true to yourselves and to others. Society will then have no cause to regret your having passed the safeguards she has thrown out to pro- tect herself from the unworthy."
Subsequently, the doctor occupied the chair of surgery for two years in the state university at Lincoln.
Dr. Mercer was seven years secretary of the State Medical Society, which was brought into existence by his own motion in 1867, and was always an active member of the same, and was president one term; and, dur- ing the last year of his practice, was vice-pres- ident of the American Medical Association, and presided part of the time at the national meeting at New Orleans.
Owing to ill-health and accumulation of many outside business affairs, Dr. Mercer re- tired from the practice of medicine in the autumn of 1886, just twenty yearsafter com- mencing in Omaha, and during the next season embarked in the enterprise of build- ing cable and electric railroads, but soon finding that the cable was not profitable and not adapted to cities of this size, sold his interest and put his energies into the electric plant. After three years hard struggle in fighting financial odds and opposition from opposing companies and opposing interests, he succeeded in developing the first electric railroad plant in the city, which was soon
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after united with that of other companies and became the principal part of the Omaha Street Railway Company, of which he is an active member and one of the directors.
During the last few years of his practice, and after his retifing, Dr. Mercer invested his surplus money largely in real estate, bought and platted that section known as "Walnut Hill," and built seventy- five houses thereon before any other settlements were made in that section, all of which were sold on small monthly payments to men desiring to secure homes. He afterwards crected several blocks of business houses in the city, including also the building known as the Mercer Ilotel. Ile has always been an active, energetic and never-tiring worker for the in- terests of Omaha and Nebraska, ever slow- ing his good faith by energy and investment of money to build up the town and the State, with a firm belief that prosperity of each should go hand in hand.
Dr. Mercer's political views are, and al- ways have been, republican, believing firmly in the doctrines of tariff as the best means of protecting and equalizing the interests of all men, but he looks with misgiving upon the encroachments of large corporations and financial institutions organized with money to make money, sometimes without due re- gard to moral rights or equity among men.
In 1890, Dr. Mercer was a prominent re- publican candidate for governor, but was defeated in the convention, and was again spoken of very prominently as a candidate in 1892 for the same office, but refused to per- mit his name to go before the convention, on account of commercial reasons. Ile was made chairman of the Republican State Cen- tral Committee, in 1891.
In the autumn of 1892, the doctor was the prime mover in starting the drug establislı- ment known as the " Mercer-Whitmore Co." and is also interested in several other commercial enterprises in a small way.
Dr. Mercer was married on the 12th day of November, 1870, to Miss Lizzie Covert Hulst, of Omaha, Nebraska, at the German Reform Church, in Brooklyn, New York. Miss Hulst was the daughter of Garrett Hulst, late of Alexandria, Virginia, and formerly of Brooklyn, New York, and grand- daughter of Anthony Hulst, of Williams- burg, New York, and he was a son of William Hulst, who was a descendant of the original Knickerbocker family.
Dr. Mercer and his wife still live in Omaha, the home of their adoption. Their children are George W. Mercer, a graduate of Peekskill Military Academy and of Yale College ; Nelson S. Mercer, a graduate of Peekskill Military Academy, and now (Jan- uary, 1893,) a student at Andover, Massa- chusetts ; Carrie L. Mercer, a student at Brownell Hall, Omaha; and Mary Mercer. The deceased members of the family are an infant daughter, and Robert L. Mercer who died at the age of four years.
As chairman of the Republican State Cen- tral Committee, Dr. Mercer, in his public ut- terances at the State conventions, acquitted himself with credit. In his opening ad- dress at Kearney, April 27, 1892, he said:
" Midway between ocean and ocean, on the east and on the west; and midway be- tween the gulf on the south and the British possessions on the north; and also midway between the eastern and western boundaries of our own state, is the focal spot, the hub of the nation, the axis of the State, around which revolve all our social, commercial and political interests. Upon this spot stands the beautiful and thrifty little city of Kear- ney, with a people peerless in ambition, ever watchful and ready to seize the passing tide and work with a right good will to the suc- cessful finishing of every enterprise. When the republican party was born, this spot was the center of the great American desert. To-day itis the center of the nation's oasis." * * * *
And again at Lincoln on the 4th of Aug- nst, following, when the Republican State convention assembled to nominate candid- ates for State offices, the address of the doc- tor, was, as a partisan effort, of a high order, but reached far beyond that of the ordinary politician, as the following extracts conclu- sively show :
" Everywhere within the limits of our great, growing and prosperous State, there seems to be now, more than ever before, a zealous determination, touching even the deep emotions of men, to defend, to protect, and perpetuate the doctrines of the grand old Republican party.
" To-day every county, aye, every pre- cinct, of the State is here, in convention as- sembled. Every caste of good society is respresented. Here in this hall labor and capital sit side by side. Here in this con- vention is also the buyer and the seller,
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the producer and the consumer-all earn- estly and actively merging their interests in one common cause, and that cause is good government. Upon that condition, and that alone, we will build our platform, and through it reiterate and reconfirm to the people, the doctrines of our party, already evolved in the national platform, as estab- lished and endorsed by strong men who have successfully guided and directed the affairs of this nation for the last thirty-two years, through the vicissitudes of war and famine, peace and prosperity, until she has risen above her peers, resting now upon the very summit of success, supported by the silent powers of sixty-five millions of people.
" During these thirty-two years of repub- lican rule, population has doubled; social and commercial affairs have increased more than a thousand per cent, while education and general growth of practical arts and sciences have kept pace with the rapid development of other departments. These results alone, ought to be enough to convince even the most skeptical, who contiually cavil about the ills of this land, and claim that there is no hope except to follow a glaring ignis fatuus that occasionally rises up in the midst of a mass of dark isms, from some calamity swamp.
" To-day we must make no promise which our party representatives will not faith- fully keep. If we do, it will be a cause for discord; and ill results will follow evil causes.
" In fact, all things visible and invisible, palpable and impalpable, on the earth or in the heavens above, move by the incontro- vertible laws of cause and effect, under the inspiration of a Diety.
"The earth revolves upon its own axis, while the sun, moon, and stars travel in their respective orbits, all with such precision and regularity, that the astronomer may cal- culate with mathematical accuracy the posi- tion, distance, and velocity of each. But the influence that one planet has over an- other, or that all have over the inhabitants of any, is a knowledge reserved to be known alone to lim who creates the cause to pro- duce the effect.
"So it is with man; his physical power, in- dividually or collectively, may be calculated and estimated, but the influence that one man may have over another, or that a col- lection of men may have over other men, is
a knowledge also reserved to be known alone to the creator of the emotions of men, that spring into activity and produce effects when the cause-trigger is touched.
" Some things, however, men do know and some duties men do realize, first among which an is inalienable right to worship God accord- ing to the dictates of conscience; and, second, their intuitive duty to defend and protect personal rights, individual and collective liberty.
" It was an attempt to oppress these prin- ciples that drove the pilgrims on the May- flower. It was an attempt to abridge these liberties that sent the tea overboard in . Boston harbor. These are the kind of things that caused a mighty convulsion among the emotions of men, the effect of which was the Declaration of Independence, vouchsafing life, liberty, and the pursuit * of happiness to an American people." *
Of the particular likings of Dr. Mercer, which indicates his character more effect- ively than can be expressed in words, may be mentioned his love for trees and flowers (especially roses), and, it may be added, for works of art. The doctor has, also, not only strong likes but dislikes for persons, and abhors everything in word, figure or deed that is not truthful.
Elcod Llerit.
GEORGE L. MILLER .- Of all the men who have been identified with the growth and progress of Omaha and have left their impress upon its history, no one has a repu- tation more to be coveted than George L. Miller. Ile was one of the pioneers, coming in 1854 to the then straggling and strug- gling village on the bank of the Missouri River, which had no other identity upon the map than being opposite to Council Bluffs. The latter had been a resting-place for the migrating Mormons, who were seeking a new Zion farther westward.
Dr. Miller was born in Boonville, Oneida County, New York, August 18, 1830. At the age of seventeen, he began the study of medicine in Syracuse, New York, and after five years of close application to his books, entered the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in New York City, graduating in 1852. Returning to Syracuse he practiced his pro-
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fession for two years, but yielding to the ad- vice of friends he sought in the West, a wider field, coming to the extreme frontier -the "jumping off place," as it was known in those days. He arrived in Omaha when there were not to exceed twenty persons in the village, long in advance of railroads and the telegraph; and the only means of mail communications with the outside world was by stage coach to St. Joseph, Missouri, and to Davenport and Keokuk in Iowa.
He began the practice of medicine, but patients were few and the climate altogether too healthy for the amassing of a speedy for- tune. Young and vigorous, with talents of a high order, he naturally took prominence in the community, where brains were at a a premium, and with a natural bent for poli- tics, he speedily became identified with pub- lic affairs. Within a twelve month of his arrival in Omaha, he was elected to the ter- ritorial legislature. Ile served one term in the lower house of that body. The next year he was chosen a member of the terri- torial council in which he served four years, and of which he was president two years.
Those were exciting days in Omaha; days when history was made, as is recounted in other pages of this work, and through it all Dr. Miller bore high rank and acquitted him- self with credit.
In 1860, just preceding the war of the Re- bellion, the doctor, who had gained some ex- perience in literary work, went to St. Joseph, Mo., where, as an incident of his professional life, he wrote a series of editorial articles for the Gazette of that place. Ile was a strong unionist, and his editorials appearing in a paper published upon what was debat- able ground with regard to adherance or position to slavery and the impending con- flict, attracted wide attention.
Resuming his residence in Omaha, in 1861, he was appointed sutler at Fort Kearney, and remained there until 1864. The Nebraska frontier was at that time greatly menaced by the Indians and predatory raids and even battles were frequent. In the year last mentioned, the Democratic party of the Territory called upon him to run for delegate to congress, and he returned to Omaha to make it the basic point of his campaign. He was defeated at the polls, but concluded to remain in Omaha, and then as- sociated himself with D. II. Carpenter in the founding of the Herald, a Democratic
newspaper. Later, Mr. Lyman Richardson succeeded Mr. Carpenter as Dr. Miller's as- sociate in editing and publishing that paper, which they continued until March, 1887.
Dr. Miller was always a man of striking personality. He possessed a strong and rugged character, with great energy and capacity for work. He was fearless in the expression of his views, yet always courteous and considerate to an opponent. He has always been devoted to Omaha and its inter- ests; and it has been well said of him that no man has done more than he to foster the town from the days of its swaddling clothes to those of its lusty young manhood, when it has reached a population of over 150,000. Ile has been among the first in public en- terprises, by voice and by pen urging the public good and inspiring his fellow citizens to deeds and ventures, the object and pur- pose of which have been the furtherance and upbuilding of the city.
Dr. Miller's strong mental acquirements and his ability as a writer, combined with the position which he achieved as a politi- cian, soon brought him into contact with the leading men of the nation, a fact which largely advanced his capabilities for aiding the growth of Omaha. Ile has ever been a propaganda and the city his faith. Ile has always been found in the front rank among its citizens, in enticing and encouraging eastern money, seeking profitable invest- ment in the West, to come to Omaha. Notably was this true when, after the close of the civil war, the project of a trans- continental railroad took shape. Ile labored hard and zealously for the building of the Pacific roads and bore a prominent part in determining Omaha as, practically, the east- ern terminus of the Union Pacific. As editor of the Herald, he also gained dis- tinction in his party, ranking as a leader of influence and a statesman of sound ideas.
The stand taken by him upon the great financial questions of his time deserves most earnest attention, and stamps him as worthy of a place among the soundest and best thinkers of the period upon these subjects. It also shows that he was gifted beyond ordinary writers and politicians with that prescience which enables one to see beyond the mere present, and measure, at their true value, illusory and misleading theories, which may prevail for a time and lead
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astray multitudes of otherwise strong and well-meaning men.
Prior to the presidential year 1876, the " greenback " or "fiat money " craze pre- vailed throughout the country, and especially in the western States, where it permeated all classes, composing both of the great political parties. The bonds, issued by the government for the prosecution of the war, commonly called " five-twenties," were already redeemable by their terms, and the date of maturity was not far distant when it would be necessary to either pay or refund them. The point was raised that these bonds, being payable in " dollars" without mention of " coin " or " gold," were payable in greenbacks, and the opinion was seriously upheld that instead of retiring these notes, which had been the constant effort. during the whole of General Grant's administra- tion, a further issue should be made suf- ficient to pay off these bonds, amounting to nearly a billion of dollars. It was argued that this currency, going into circulation, would make money plentiful, restore busi- ness activity, and general prosperity would again gladden the land. No more pestilent theory could be conceived of, and it was now pressed at a most opportune time to do its harmful work.
The baleful effects of the panie of 1873 were still severely felt in all branches of business, and the doctrine appealed with great force to the large army of debtors who believed they would be relieved of a great portion of their burdens-as undoubt- edly they would have been if such legalized robbery had been established. It, therefore, required no slight amount of moral courage to combat this theory, even if the convic- tion of right was surely founded.
There was, however, no hesitation on the part of Dr. Miller. Hle at once took his stand in uncompromising hostility to the scheme. This stand now was the more im- portant for the reason that opinions were focusing to decide the action of the national Democratic convention, to be held the fol- lowing year, to nominate presidential can- didates; and it was generally thought tlie party would endorse the " rag money" idea, and the campaign in Ohio had already been commenced on this theory. The Herald teemed, during this period, with editorials, terse, strong, and vigorous, which were well
calculated to carry conviction to every reader, as witness the following:
August 11, 1875 .- " We did say and now repeat that if the election of Governor Allen and the Democratic ticket in the present con- test [in Ohio] is to result in an alliance with the distressed states of the South to fasten the financial doctrine of inflation upon the Democratic platform next year, we hope and pray William Allen and the Democratic ticket may be defeated [in that state] by not less than one hundred thousand maj- ority."
And the next day, Dr. Miller said: " It is rag money, irredeemable in coin that Ohio delights in *
* * not the honest hard money, the world's measurer of values, by which the farmer has to buy what he con- sumes. But stop throwing your soft money puff-balls at Nebraska. We invite * attention to the latest speech of its [Ohio's] own Pendleton, who at last surrenders the monstrous heresies with which he has pois- oned and polluted his State."
The doctor's vigorous efforts met with an immediate response from his own party at home, which was as surprising to the country at large as it was flattering to him. The democracy met in State convention, September 16, and unanimously adopted this resolution:
" Resolved, that we are in favor of a sound currency, coin, or its equivalent, as essential to stability in business and a restoration of prosperity-steps towards specie payments and no steps backwards."
And the national convention of the fol- lowing year, at which Samuel J. Tilden was nominated for president by the democratic party, declared for a reform " to establish a sound currency" and protesting against the failure for eleven years "to make good the promise of the legal tender notes which are a changing standard of value in the hands of the people, and the non-payment of which is a disregard of the plighted faith of the nation."
Naturally enough, Dr. Miller became the familiar associate of the prominent inen of the nation; particularly was this true with regard to Iloratio Seymour, whom he held in the veneration of a foster parent. lle also was very close to Samuel J. Tilden in the days of his prominence in the nation, and had Mr. Tilden occupied the presidential
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chair (1877-81) it is beyond peradventure that Dr. Miller would have been called to his cabinet.
Dr. Miller has never manifested any thirst for office. Ile has preferred to make oflice- holders of others rather than of himself; but he has always wielded a potential influence in politics; and when finally his party did gain ascendency in the nation and Grover Cleve- land entered upon the presidency, Mr. Til- den and other prominent democrats warmly urged the appointment of the doctor as postmaster general, viewing him as a strong representative of the West, and embodying the spirit of sound democracy. Another was chosen, but the subject of this sketch was prouder of the honor gained from his endorsement, than he would have been in receiving the appointment. The recent election, for the second time, of Cleveland as president, is a source of much gratifica- tion to Dr. Miller.
When in 1887, after a long period of active life, he decided to retire from jour- nalism, he found himself comfortably situ- ated-possessing a competency of this world's goods. He has a fine country-seat, situated about five miles southwest of Omaha, which he has named "Seymour Park," in honor of the distinguished patron of his younger days. Here he has a domain of four hundred and sixty acres, embellished with hundreds of thousands of trees, planted by himself in carly days. The whole is crowned with a costly stone mansion, sup- plied with all modern conveniences and comforts. Ilis seat is of easy access to the city, two lines of railroads skirting its boundaries, each with a station upon the premises. A life of maction was not, however, to Dr. Miller's taste. Hale and vigorous, he could not entirely relinquish labor, and he has, until recently, devoted much of his time to the general manage- ment, in the West, of a life insurance com- pany, which has large investments in Omaha and contiguous places. Ile is, now. pres- ident of the board of park commissioners, a position entirely to his taste and to which he devotes much of his time in trying to secure for Omaha a system of parks-a project in which the citizens have recently aided him by the voting of $400,000 in bonds for additional sites, the improving and beautifying of which is provided for by an annual tax.
In 1890, Dr. Miller undertook to aid in the establishment of a Presbyterian Theo- logical Seminary in Omaha. At the request of Rev. Dr. John Gordon and other clergy, he made a donation of twenty-five acres of land in Seymour Park, for that purpose, which was formally accepted by the Presby- terian body, which in turn, was endorsed by the Presbyterian General Assembly of the United States. It is expected the foun- dation for the main structure will soon be laid.
GEORGE MORGAN O'BRIEN was born in the County of Wexford, Ireland, on the first day of May, 1829, and died in Omaha, Nebraska, January 8, 1887. Ile was a direct descendant of the O'Brien family noted in the history of Ireland in her struggles for independence. The ancestral branch of his family refused to be reconciled to British rule in the Emerald Isle, and, as a punish- ment for their adherence to their old faith (the Roman Catholic) and their loyality to their native land, preferring independence to British rule, were proscribed, their estates confiscated, and by a royal decree it was made lawful for any person to kill any male member of the family wherever found in the British dominions. Such treatment, instead of subduing the spirit of independence and crushing that bold family, only excited its members to renewed efforts for the liberty of their country. Under this dreadful anathema we find them earnestly resisting the regal decree and actively en- gaged among the leaders in the rebellion of 1798, in the province of Linster.
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